‘Can see him back in the second tier’ – What’s next for Valerien Ismael after West Brom dismissal? The verdict

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

West Brom parted company with Valerien Ismael last week, with the Baggies slipping away in their automatic promotion chase. 

The Midlands club are currently sixth, and should teams below them win their games in hand, then they would drop out of play-offs altogether. 

Steve Bruce has since taken charge at The Hawthorns, in an attempt to steer the Championship giants back to glory. 

Ismael’s insistence of operating in a 3-4-3 despite a lack of success, caused great frustrations within the West Brom support, with the Frenchman possessing an excellent squad at his disposal. 

Three of our writers here at FLW have shared their thoughts regarding what they think the best step for Ismael might be…

Declan Harte

Despite the way things ended at West Brom, clubs will look at his work with Barnsley favourably so he could be back in the Championship sooner rather than later.

If Barnsley themselves were in a slightly more fortuitous position they could even go back to Ismael, but he is probably above their level now as they look almost certain to be relegated.

But another mid-table Championship club, such as Swansea City or Millwall could definitely see an opportunity to bring in someone with a decent record at this level.

Even with the way things went sour at West Brom, it was only in the last few weeks of his tenure that everything unravelled, but he still had the Baggies chasing promotion.

Ismael’s reputation took a dent with the way things ended at the Hawthorns, but overall he is still known as a decent manager who can